


Two Sides of Every Coin

by JinxWinx



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Cuties, Gardens, Gen, Mental Breakdown, Protests, Recovery, Rolling with the punches, Siblings, Things are complicated in life, Tony and Violet are kinda dating here I guess, Tony is "Helpful", Violet is having regrets, Violet is not happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-06-16 13:18:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15437880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxWinx/pseuds/JinxWinx
Summary: Evelyn is released from prison and put under the protective custody of her brother(much faster than even Violet could have guessed.) together they try to put life back together, through a sea of feelings of betrayal and emotional breakdowns as well as one epic time out. This is loosely attached to my snapshots series.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Because I forget to put them here and I think they're polite. All characters belong to Disney Pixar.

To his surprise, it was Elastigirl who suggested he have Evelyn’s holding situation looked at. They had been on the high rise of one of his mansions three stories above the sparkling blue pool where a party was raging, she had offered to serve as security and Winston was happy to have her there but he was certain she was laying down a trap. Evelyn had become the name no one dared to speak in front of supers or at least it had for Winston in the week since her arrest.

“She’ll be okay,” Winston said, still not wanting to say his sister’s name even though Elastigirl just had. ”The facility is clean and sturdy, a great place to reflect...”

Elastigirl rested her arms across the railing and squinted at the navy blue sky.

“Evelyn made a lot of enemies here last week, not just with supers-” Elastigirl said her voice distant, she trailed off then shook her head and looked at him with a composed expression that told him her head wasn’t in agreement with her words, her heart was. “If I was you, I’d have her moved. For her own safety.”

That was something Winston hadn’t considered, didn’t want to consider. Having Evelyn transported to another city would take time, legal proceedings and draw more unwanted attention to her, it was better to let her sit in the local jail while supers drowned out her betrayal in the public eye, moving her would only cause a media frenzy and besides-

“No one would be foolish enough to hurt her,” Winston said with a smile. That was flimsy reasoning and Winston knew it, but he had to believe it, it had to be true. Surely no one would think of killing the sister of one of the richest men in the world, that was insane.

Elastigirl looked at him knowingly and held his gaze as if she was trying to get him to see reason, Winston returned it with a smile and the stare off lasted almost a minute before Elastigirl sighed and looked back over the railing.

“You’d be surprised at how foolish people are when they’re driven by emotion,” She said lowly.

Winston looked at his shoes that little maxim was a stake of truth to his heart, it was painfully true. After all, it described his sister perfectly.

“I’ll talk to our lawyers again,” Winston said mildly. “And see what measures they think are necessary.”

Elastigirl nodded, shrugging a little as if that wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for but was accepting it as good enough. Winston frowned down at his drink, supers could be strange people, hypersensitive to morality and their desire to help people always seemed to stretch beyond the battle even with villains. That was one of the reasons Winston’s father loved them so much, they were compassionate to their enemies and most of them would negotiate fair treatment for their arch-nemesis when they caught them. They were truly delightful human beings.

Most of them.

Winston had to remind himself that often, that not all supers were delightful and not all of them believed in showing their enemies mercy beyond human compassion, which was one of many reasons he sloughed through Evelyn’s mess meticulously, it was a balancing act one Elastigirl didn’t seem very aware of.

But a businessman was only as good as his word and Winston’s word was golden, he added yet another errand to his to-do list, talk to their team of lawyers.

 

The estimation had been a twenty-five month sentence, it was an odd choice, but their lawyers told them the courts had thrown in the extra month for reckless endangerment, he didn’t complain two years and a month was much better than Evelyn deserved considering her little stunt, people got life for less.

Winston didn’t tell her that though, he kept those thoughts to himself, Winston was supposed to be supportive, he didn’t want to be, but it was his job as a brother. Keeping his negative thoughts under wraps was the easy part, the hard part was the supportive part of being “supportive”. What exactly was he supposed to support? Her tantrum? Her betrayal? Her misplaced hatred?  
Winston wanted nothing to do with any of those, it took several visits for him to spot the piece of his sister that was still worth supporting, it happened during one of the more silent trips he made to the prison, he was looking at the deck of cards he brought, contemplating whether he should even try to explain why trying to ram a boat into a city was a horrible thing to do. They already had that conversation three times and Evelyn seemed convinced of the opposite, that ramming a boat into a city was a good thing to do. If not out of a sense of duty Winston would have left the visiting room, then the city or maybe the country. Not forever, just a month or two, long enough for him to get his own thoughts together.  
But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Evelyn to rot even for a month, so instead of taking a vacation from the nightmare Evelyn created Winston found himself searching the telephone books for a therapist.

Evelyn snapped him out of his thoughts with a sharp cough, he looked at her with a halfway frown, it wasn’t a natural cough he could tell that much, but he didn’t know whether to take it as an attempt to interact or not.

He decided to test the waters. “Should I deal the cards or do you want to?”

Sometimes she would ignore him, most of the times she’d just sigh and shake her head, other times she’d grace him with a word or two usually “No,” followed by an insult. But she today she took the cards, and slid them out of their box, she shuffled them carelessly, not the typical controlled carelessness she possessed but a carelessness that implied she didn’t know what she was doing. Winston raised an eyebrow, Evelyn had shuffled more than a few cards in her lifetime to know how.

Then she asked a question that haunted him for the rest of the week. “What day is it?”

“Thursday,”At the time he hadn’t thought much into it, perhaps they didn’t have calendars in her cell. But then he realized she should it was a very basic item. The next time he visited he brought one with him, making sure to mark off the date before handing it to her. She flipped through it slowly until she came to the end and turned and closed it.

“Saturday,” She said narrowing her eyes.

“That’s tomorrow,” Winston said.

“Hm,” 

Winston offered her the cards again and to his surprise she took them but didn’t start shuffling them, he watched her and for the first time he noticed how haggard she looked, the circles under her eyes were shades darker than before, making them look like bruises, her shoulders were narrower than he remembered and she had a wild look in her eyes that put Winston on edge, how hadn’t he noticed that before?

“Saturday is when they poison the food,” She said with such certainty that it scared him but that was insanity. No one would be stupid enough to poison her, not while he was still living and fully able to sue the life out of them.

So at first he thought she was losing her mind, but there was something else in her eyes besides insanity it was cloaked by raw terror, it was small, fragile and hidden underneath a pile of bitterness but once he found it, it sparkled like a tiny diamond and couldn’t be unseen, it was tiny, innocent and needed to be protected, it was his sister. It was that spark that made Winston talk to their lawyers yet again.

So perhaps, the result of the trial was Winston’s fault, in a way, but in all fairness, he hadn’t told the attorneys to push that hard.


	2. Chapter 2

It took exactly one month. Thirty days for the Deavors lawyers to work their magic on the jury and the judge. It took thirty days for Evelyn to be able to walk through the prison doors after she tried to kill their mom and a boat full of people. It was an injustice if Violet had ever seen one, she expected an outrage, but there was none. She expected to hear her friends complaining about it at school, but they laughed it off “She’s a nut,” they snickered and that was that. Violet expected the new supers to protest, but they kept silent. Most of all Violet expected her parents to sit her and Dash down, to explain the unfairness of it all, to tell them the courts were skewed, that something should be done about it, but they didn’t. Their parents watched the proceedings with heavy eyes but they kept silent and embraced their new found freedom, they focused on the positive instead of the glaring negative.

But sometimes, Violet heard them arguing about it at night, and that made everything worse. Because even her parents didn’t know how to feel about Evelyn’s release.

On Friday Violet stood on the steps of her junior high and looked at Tony groggily she’d stayed up all night watching reruns of the proceedings while her family was asleep.“Did you hear?” 

His head jerked up from his textbook and he looked at her with a confused frown. “Uh, hear what?”

“You know,” Violet said rolling her eyes subconsciously, was she the only one who followed these things? “Evelyn Deavor. Miss Crazy Pants?”

“Oh, no I haven’t heard anything in a while,” Tony said glancing back at his textbook, they had a test coming up and he was obviously distracted. 

A while. It had only been a month since Evelyn tried to kill them, she hadn’t even given them a full three month break from the Syndrome incident. Sometimes Violet wondered if he had lived would they face the same dilemma with him? Did the government care that little about supers that they would let murderers roam free? Tony must have noticed Violet’s silence because he nudged her gently on the shoulder until she looked at him.

“What happened? With the trial?” He asked.

Violet looked away, pretending to see something in bushes she closed her eyes tightly to ward off any stray tears, it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. “A month.”

Tony whistled.

“She’s getting a month for that?” He asked, he was genuinely surprised but he wasn’t hurt. Not like she was.

“No, it's been a month,” Violet said thickly. “She’s getting released this week.”

“Wow,” Tony said. “That’s crazy.”

It was, there was no other way of putting it.

A wave of tiredness rushed over her and Violet sank to the steps poking at a broken piece of rubble, after a moment Tony joined her and stared at the steps with her, he didn’t speak for another minute or so.

“So you’re a big fan of supers I guess,” He said.

Violet glared at him.

“I’m a big fan of justice,” She snorted. Violet still hadn’t told him she was a super so he didn’t know why she was so wrapped up in the whole proceedings, he didn’t know she’d been on the hydrofoil. Violet sighed a little, if she didn’t have powers would she think the same as he seemed to, that only fanatics should care as much as she did? That didn’t seem right. “This isn’t justice.”

“You’re not wrong,” Tony said. “But they have money. A lot of money.”

“Mr. Deavor’s supposed to be a super advocate!” Violet snapped. This was one of many reasons she was happy to have Tony around, she felt comfortable talking to him about things she didn’t want to broach with her parents. Winston’s muted but tangible presence in Evelyn’s case unnerved her, whose side was he on anyway? But her parents loved Winston regardless of his sketchy dealings with his sister so she couldn’t complain to them, they’d think she was ungrateful. “Some fan...”

“I bet he’s a fan of his sister too,” Tony said gently.

There was nothing Violet could say to that if she were standing in Winston’s place and Dash or Jack Jack in Evelyn’s she didn’t know what she’d do and that scared her, and only made her angrier. Violet needed things to start making sense again, right was right and wrong was wrong, no ands ifs or buts about it so why was everything so hard to make sense of now? 

“Yeah,” Violet said darkly. She crossed her arms and stared moodily at the street below, a car raced past and knocked a discarded piece of paper at the base of the stairs, it was a crumpled up newspaper and Violet was too afraid of seeing Evelyn’s face staring back at her to look at it for long.

“Violet,” Tony said his tone softer. “The whole situation stinks, but supers are legal now that’s a huge thing I think it’s better to focus on that unless… There’s something else you want to tell me maybe?”

Violet looked at him in alarm her mind searching their conversation for anything she might have said that could have tipped him off, her parents were going to so mad if she blew her cover again.

“N-no, it’s nothing really,” Violet stuttered. “It’s just- You know how we lost our old house?”

“Yeah,”

“Some rich guy took it,” Violet said. “We had to go to a motel, we were pretty much homeless for a while, he tried to get Jack Jack taken from us too and no one did a thing.”

That sounded sappy enough, and it was all true. Syndrome had taken their home when his jet exploded and blew their house up, he had tried to steal Jack Jack and when it was all said and done the government gave Mirage, his accomplice in genocide, a job. Tony seemed to believe her story and looked at her with sad brown eyes that reminded Violet of melted chocolate.

“So this reminds you of that- Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tony said, he quickly gave her a one arm hug.

Violet sighed, she hated pulling at his heartstrings like that but she needed his draw his attention away from the real reason she was so upset, a reason she couldn’t fully bring into perception herself it was like a massive weight she couldn’t budge.

“It’s okay Tony,” She said. “I just don’t like to see people walk over everyone just because they have money.”

“I get it now,” Tony said. “Susie likes to do walk out demonstrations, we should talk to her about organizing one for supers!”

Violet’s eyes widened and her stomach dropped like a rock. A protest sounded wonderful in theory, if Violet was normal she’d love it, but she was a super in the thick of a sea of chaos and tension things still weren’t one hundred percent for supers and they were still under scrutiny, her parents were still working closely with DEVTECH, one slip up and- Oh it would be nasty and her parents would flip if they knew she had anything to do with rocking an already unsteady boat. Violet was trying to think up a good excuse not to talk to Susie when Tony jumped up.

“I think she’s still in the library!” He said, he sounded way too excited and Violet realized he was trying to make her happy, in a moment of weakness she felt herself melt and smile warmly which gave Tony enough time to slip back inside the junior high leaving Violet on the steps.

“Tony wait!” Violet gasped by the time she reached the windowed door Tony’s lanky figure had already disappeared. “When did he get so fast?”

Violet ran after him, the library was only six yards away and fairly small Violet prayed that Tony hadn’t made it to Susie yet but deep down she knew she would be too late.

She was in so much trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t you just hate it when you’re trying to vent and the person you’re talking to decides to go and try to fix your problems for you? Ah, Tony means well but he doesn’t see the whole picture. I imagine the Parr children would have their own qualms about Evelyn getting released, Violet’s the oldest so she would have the more complex feelings about it, but she’s also a young teenager which means (chances are)she can’t think as clearly or neatly as an adult, and so since the situation is so personal to her she can’t really rationalize Winston’s involvement very well and takes the unfairness as a personal attack. Even though it isn’t. I'm enjoying writing from Violet's POV, I see her as a bit grumpy and I like it. I don't know how she ended up filling the slot of the second POV here, normally I would have picked maybe Helen or Evelyn to balance out Winston's experience, but it feels like a blessing, there are so many unexplored areas to be prodded at, Violet's young, trying to find herself and just went through two traumatic experiences within the span of months both times she almost lost her parents, now that's an interesting dynamic to me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the third chapter, I'm unbelievably tired and I don't have a fun little maxim to say like I wanted to oh well,

“Should I be flattered or are you here to yell at me?”

While the question had been lighthearted Winston wouldn’t be surprised if the latter was true. He hadn’t seen Dicker since his and Evelyn’s mother died it had been an awkward occasion and one of the few social events that Winston had been anxious to get away from, for Dicker to pop up now, with no warning and so close to Evelyn’s release was irritating for more than one reason. Winston’s internship with the NSA was complicated, to say the least, he had enjoyed it thoroughly there was no doubt about that, but there were some aspects of it he preferred to forget.

Dicker looked worn, worse than he had on the night supers were officially outlawed and that was saying something. “Walk with me Deavor,”

Winston chuckled under his breath as he followed Dicker down the hall that led away from his office, if Evelyn had been in his place she would have refused and asked Dicker who he thought he was giving orders her orders in her own building but Winston knew how to pick his battles.

“I’m in trouble then,” Winston said mirthfully though a veiled layer of annoyance rested underneath his words. “I’m a bit old for that now aren’t I?”

Dicker ignored him until they got to the glass elevator shaft.

“What are you going to do about this Winston?” Dicker asked his tone gravelly and tired.

Winston looked at the elevator as if he didn’t know what Dicker was referring to and was searching for a flaw on the elevator doors.

“I just had this one serviced yesterday, it should be fine,”

Dicker sighed and shook his head, and jammed his thumb against the control panel a few seconds later the doors opened and Dicker stepped onto the lift, he frowned at Winston until he joined him.  
The situation was going from mildly annoying to grating, Winston was tolerant enough to ignore the feelings and remain pleasant but Dicker’s presence was testing his limits, he was already beginning to think he was suffering from a burn out, he’d had a cluster of events happen in a short period of time that snowballed out of control, exploded on impact and left Winston with an assortment of good, bad and dangerous things to deal with. 

Supers were legal again that was something he’d go down in history for but his sister had committed a crime tantamount to terrorism and he was left picking up the shards of her actions, dealing with the wounds her betrayal left and now trying to remain in good graces with supers while Evelyn was released from prison after barely a month, limited probation or not he knew it would be a slap in the face to many supers. Now that the ball was rolling Winston could do nothing to stop it, instead, he busied himself with making a damage control plan. Winston had a lot on his plate and Dicker wasn’t helping.

“I do have a meeting in an hour,” Winston said softly, annoyed or not he didn’t want to be offensive.

“I know,” Dicker said. “How many lawyers do you have?”

Winston scoffed at the question then frowned worriedly as he processed it. “Why? How many do you think I need?”

“As long as things go according to the law hopefully none in this situation,” Dicker said. “But people are going to be looking for a crack, doesn’t have to be about this, they’ll take a misfiled contract.”

“That’s not new,” Winston pointed out. “People are always trying to sue companies.”

Someone tried to open a lawsuit against them and their subsidiaries almost every month, so far none of them had gone to court and even if they did, Winston had no doubt they’d be thrown out. For the most part, Winston and his sister ran their company according to the law, even when they were seemingly breaking the law it was done via loopholes and ergo, legal. Evelyn’s Screenslaver incident was the only blatantly illegal act that Winston could think of, even that was iffy though, the courts spent half of the case trying to figure out if mass hypnosis was illegal or not they eventually came to the conclusion that hypnosis was incitement at the very least,it was unstable enough that the persecution banked on the crimes that happened after the hypnosis to try and convict her.

“People aren’t going to understand this Winston,” Dicker said. “This is going to be different from the usual “Your product shorted out my building,” claim you’re used to. People are going to be hurt and you know what hurt people do.”

“Maybe,” Winston said. “But things will never change if you never take risks.”

Supers had become legal because of a risk, maybe one day Evelyn would get better because of one too.

“It’s going to be hard for the public to wrap their minds around your support of supers and your relationship with Evelyn,” Dicker said crossing his arms.

Winston immediately looked away from him, pretending to be staring out the glass pane at the skyline, he was happy he had followed Dicker into the elevator if they’d stayed in his office he’d seem even ruder, the action was a reflex one that had developed recently and only seemed to happen when someone said his sister’s name aloud, it made his stomach drop and Winston didn’t know if it was out of fear of hearing them say something unsavory about her or shame of being related to her, Winston hoped it was the former.

“It shouldn’t be that hard,” Winston murmured.

“If you were anyone else it wouldn’t be,” Dicker said dryly, in the reflection on the glass Winston saw his shoulders sag a little. “But since when do people apply human logic to celebrities? You exemplify a new era, they want you to be perfect Winston.”

“I can’t back out of this now,” Winston said quietly, even if he could he didn’t know if he would.

“And I’m not saying you should,” Dicker said. “I’m telling you to be careful, tread slowly, keep talking to your lawyers, keep advocating for supers, but keep Evel- your sister out of the public eye for a while,”

So Dicker had picked up on his little tic, Winston felt his face flush but he was grateful for Dicker’s effort it was a small show of empathy but Winston knew from working with Dicker that it was something to be appreciated.

“So you want me to keep private things private and public things public?”

“If you can manage that,” Dicker said grumbled.

Winston smiled. “I’m not so young anymore. I can manage that Dicker.”

Dicker clapped his shoulder and gave Winston a small smile, he didn’t believe him Winston knew that much but he returned the smile. The doors slid open and Dicker stepped into the lobby after a moment of hesitation Winston followed.

“So what happens now?” Winston asked mildly, at first he’d been afraid Dicker’s presence meant he was going to have to deal with the NSA in addition to everything else, but he saw no evidence of that.

“I leave you to your meeting and pack my bags,” Dicker said with a shrug.

Winston looked at him with concern. “Where are you headed?”

“Back to Florida,” Dicker said when he saw Winston’s expression he added simply. “I’m retired.”

“Congratulations!” Winston said his irritation melted away when he realized Dicker had gone out of his way to try and help him without urging from the NSA. The news that Dicker had retired was a shock as well, Winston had never expected Dicker to retire he wasn’t the type. “Florida’s great, we actually have a resort down there-”

Winston trailed off when he noticed that while Dicker was smiling he didn’t look very happy which told Winston his retirement wasn’t voluntary.

“When are you leaving?”

“Next week if everything goes well,” Dicker said with a sigh. “I have a few friends I want to visit.”

The Incredible family no doubt, Winston rubbed his neck, they were another risk factor in his list so far they were surprisingly gentle about the situation but Winston was on the look on for red flags that would make things go sour. 

“Will I see you again before you leave?” The past was murky, Winston hated some of it, Dicker was a part of some of the more upsetting pieces of it, their was relationship was strained when they parted but if Dicker was willing to overlook it, Winston supposed he might not mind drawing from his brighter days, when everything was sweeter and his parents were alive and Evelyn wasn’t in prison. Life was simpler back then, even though it hadn’t seemed like it.

“If you’re not too busy,” Dicker said.

Winston would be busy, very busy but what was one more item on the list? 

“My schedule can be very flexible with a little work,”

Dicker nodded. “Good luck Winston.”

“Back at ya Dicker,”

They were both going to need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the little trivia in the novelization about Winston working for Dicker when he was younger, a nice way to connect him to the Parrs. There's a lot of deleted little "scenes" in there more like tidbits but If you're a nerd like me you'll enjoy it so give it a read if you can.
> 
> Anyway it's late and I've got church in the morning have a blessed night(morning) and drive safely.


	4. Chapter 4

  
“Why don’t you just use your forcefields?” Dash asked through a mouth full of cookies. Violet glanced at him and blasted the cookie out of his hand.

“Mom said no sweets until after dinner Dash!” Violet said. She hadn’t thought of using her forcefields to help her until after Dash suggested it and she didn’t want to do it now because she just knew Dash would get smug about it.

Dash let out a cry of shock and dove after his falling cookie.

“On the pasta Violet, not me!”

Violet rolled her eyes and shifted the last of the noodles into the strainer then doused them in cold water until they were cool.

“They’re gonna get soggy Vi!” Dash complained from the floor.

“Sh!” Violet said, she picked up a paper towel and patted the noodles until they were no longer sopping wet then poured them into a large bowl.

She never realized how hard it was to cook a meal before that night, Violet was suddenly grateful for all the meals her parents made that she’d eaten without a second thought. Violet quickly went to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of tomato sauce and dumped the whole thing in the pasta bowl. As Violet stirred it some sauce splattered on the counter and the floor Violet mopped some of it up with her sock-clad foot. When she turned around proudly to dish out the pasta she found Dash eating another cookie.

“Where do you keep getting those things from?” Violet asked grouchily. She shook the pasta bowl over Dash’s plate until a nice sized glob plopped out, causing even more splatters. In hindsight, she should have used a ladle.

Dash pointed to the foyer where a large silver box sat on a corner stand. “Mom said Winston sent ‘em.”

Violet’s face dropped into a frown on reflex, she turned away and went back to the kitchen and got a ladle and some forks, when she sat down in her seat and ladled some pasta on her plate she noticed Dash watching her oddly.

”What was that?” He asked curiously.

“What was what?” Violet asked, mashing some of the pasta up for Jack Jack who was groggily resting his head on the high chair.

Dash stared at her quietly while he shoved food into his mouth. “Hmm, nothing..”

Violet turned her attention to her food, Dash was a weirdo, that was nothing new.

“Where’d mom and dad go?” Dash asked.

“You know where they went,” Violet grumbled. “DevTech.”

“ _Oh right_ ,” Dash said. “But why?”

“I don’t know, to talk about super stuff or something,” Violet said. It seemed like no matter where she turned she couldn’t get away from DevTech and consequently the fact that Evelyn was getting released in a few days which brought her to another problem that made her feel nauseous, Tony's plan.

“Weird,”

“What’s weird about it?” Violet asked almost hoping Dash shared her opinion.

“That we never get to go,” Dash said shattering Violet’s shred of hope.

“Yup _that’s_ the weird thing about it,”

“What do you think’s weird about it?” Dash asked.

“Everything,” Violet said, she shook Jack Jack awoke and pushed a spoon of mashed pasta into his mouth. She realized she was scowling without knowing it and purposely drew a breath and relaxed her face.

Violet couldn’t help thinking Winston was taking advantage of her parents and the rest of the supers somehow, how long would it be before he tried to get them to endorse Evelyn as the poster child of “reformed” villains? There was something called being a good sibling, and Winston had crossed the line and went straight into crazy territory. Winston was supposed to be their friend, not some cop-out.

“Eh,” Dash said. “I think it’s kinda cool. It would be even cooler if we could come, though.”

“You do not want to go to DevTech Dash,” Violet scoffed.

“How do you know you?” Dash asked mischievously.

“Did you forget what happened the last time we got on something of theirs?” Violet snapped. Violet didn’t even want to mention the terrors they faced with Syndrome, rich guys were just no good as far as she was concerned Winston had blown his chance to prove her wrong.

“No I’m just not paranoid,” Dash said.

Violet glared at him and chewed her pasta staring ahead at the silver cookie box with a dark look.

Dash sighed loudly.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” He said, in a flash, he picked up his plate, dropped it in the sink and was up the stairs before Violet could blink twice.

“Night,” She said even though she knew he couldn’t hear her.

She turned to Jack Jack who had dozed off and scooped him out of his high chair draping him over her shoulder she gingerly carried him upstairs to his crib. Jack Jack went down easily with no power surges, Violet leaned against the crib’s guardrails and shook her head, they were still in Winston’s mansion, the sleekness of the house now seemed sleazy and the features excessive, she dreaded the day she figured out whose bedroom she was sleeping in. Violet wondered if the Deavors shared houses and if Winston’s house was really his and Evelyn’s, she wouldn’t be surprised but the thought made her repulsed at the possibility of sleeping in either of their beds.  
Especially Evelyn’s.

Violet made a mental note to spray it down with the disinfectant in her bathroom before she went to sleep. Violet rested her head on the railing and groaned, she couldn’t wait to get out of that house.

Violet stayed like that until the clock on Jack Jack’s nightstand struck twelve forty and she heard the front door creak open, for a moment she debated on whether she should go down and greet her parents or just go to bed. She remembered the plates on the table and splatters on the floor and sighed. Violet moved almost silently to the stairs and peered over the railing.

“Welcome back,” Violet said when she spotted her parents. “Two hours after we expected but hey…”

“What are you still doing up?” Bob asked sounding surprised, in the dark Violet couldn’t make out much but she could clearly see her parents still had their super suits on. Because, of course they did.

Violet pushed away from the banister and plodded down the steps. “Waiting for _you_ guys.”

She passed them both hunched over in both exhaustion and irritation and marched into the kitchen, sometimes the mansion still gave her that feeling she used to get when she walked through one of the expensive hotels they used to vacation at, like a princess, that night was one of those times and Violet felt special until she picked up the plates from the table and remembered whose house she was in. Her parents followed her into the kitchen and watched her put away the pasta and wipe up the stray splatters.

“We can handle that Vi,” Helen said stretching a gloved hand out for the dishtowel Violet was holding.

“You’ll get your suits messed up,” Violet said firmly.

Helen folded her arms and rocked back on her heels, the silence was awkward and despite herself, Violet found she didn’t like it.

“How was tonight?” She asked quietly.

“Huh, oh it was great, it was fine,” Bob said. “How was your night?”

“Uneventful,” Violet said. “Did something happen or something?”

Violet wanted to know why they were late, but most importantly she wanted to know what was going on at DevTech in the first place, the super campaign was over, Winston could go away and take his company with him.

Realization dawned on Helen’s face. “No honey nothing happened, it was just a scheduling error we should have called but we thought you guys were sleep,”

A plausible excuse, but Violet still felt upset.

“Winston makes scheduling errors?” She asked dryly.

Bob laughed loudly and Violet narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Wouldn’t have believed it myself if I wasn’t there.”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Helen said mildly.

Violet thought that sounded like the beginning of villain pandering. Everyone made mistakes sure, but some mistakes didn’t deserve to be forgiven.

“Hm,” Violet said her suspicion making her bolder. “What do you guys do at these things anyway?”

“Winston likes to discuss strategy, public affairs and stuff like that,” Bob explained.

Violet was thankful her face was pointed at the ground because her nose involuntarily crinkled up in disgust since when was Winston an expert on all things supers? Sure he was good at marketing but the supers shouldn’t need to talk to him about everything, he was a businessman and monopoly was in his blood, it was dangerous to risk him getting any ideas about monopolizing super’s public face as well.

“What do you need a strategy for?” Violet asked, hoping her tone was enough for her parents to understand what she was really asking, why they needed Winston’s strategy.

“We’re in a delicate time Vi, strategy is everything,” Helen said. “Winston knows strategy and so do his associates, he’s our best bet here and he’s done a great job so far.”

Her mother seemed to understand what she was asking to an extent but Violet wasn’t buying that answer she huffed and threw the rag in the sink. Violet was starting to feel agitated again, things were getting more complicated, her parents were getting closer to the Deavors and Tony was about to ruin her life without even knowing it, Violet ran her fingers through her hair.

“Something wrong Vi?” Bob asked.

Violet looked up at them startled, they were still watching her from the doorway but had taken off their masks and concern was written across their face. Violet was going to have to work on her poker face.

“No,” Violet said. She felt tempted to tell them about Tony’s plan, it was weighing on her like a ton of bricks but she didn’t know how they’d take it. “I was just thinking- How long are we gonna stay here?”

“Winston said we can stay as long as we need,” Helen said she walked over to her and placed her hands on Violet’s shoulders reassuringly. “It won’t be like the motel.”

“Is that a... Good idea?” Violet asked wording her sentence carefully.

“Winston’s a great guy Violet,” Helen said with a shake of her head. “It’ll be fine.”

“And we’ll be in our own place as soon as everything gets settled,” Bob said.

“What’s everything?” Violet asked looking between her parents from their expressions she got the impression they weren’t going to tell her and lowered her head. “There are some kids in my school and they’ve been talking-”

“About us?” Helen asked her eyes widening in surprise. “How do they even know where we’re living?

"No not about us about the other thing,” Violet said uncomfortably.

“What other thing?” Bob asked. “You mean losing the house?”

“No, the other, other thing,” Violet said scrunching up her shoulders her parents still looked at her blankly. “Y’know the incident?”

Violet lowered her voice to a nervous whisper. “Evelyn Deavor..”

“Oh,” Helen said with an odd expression. “What about it?”

“They just keep talking about it, they don’t like the verdict,” Violet stammered she noticed her father close his eyes for a moment she looked at the tile regretting even bringing the subject up. “But they keep talking about it now and I keep hearing it, I’m afraid they’re going to do something and- I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I don’t see why you have to do anything about it, Vi,” Helen said. “Kids talk about news, its nothing to worry about, just keep protecting your identity and don’t worry about it. It’ll die down.”

That’s not what Violet was trying to say, she wasn’t worried about the kids’ interest outing her as a super, she was worried about the upcoming protest ruining things for supers in her neighborhood, biting the hand that fed you was a stupid idea, Violet knew that even if she didn’t like the hand that was feeding them. Her nerve died and she was glad her mother misunderstood her, it was clear neither of her parents was interested in talking about Evelyn’s situation and anything attached to it was probably off limits too.

"I'll try," Violet said quietly.

“That’s my girl,” Helen said and wrapped Violet in a hug, Violet returned the embrace but her stomach was raw and she had a sinking feeling things were about to get a whole lot worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter, it was fun(probably because I know what happens next)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, here's the one I've been waiting to post.

The transfer came in late. It was supposed to be a simple handoff, Winston was supposed to be sleep and numb to his problems within an hour. Instead, he was leaning against the car glancing at the station every few seconds, he had been doing that for five hours. Most people would have left, or complained to someone at least.

But Winston knew if he left they would take her back and if he complained. Well… They were already on thin ice with the police, at least when it came to Evelyn. In Winston’s defense, he hadn’t told their lawyers to push for such a short sentence, he most certainly didn’t want Evelyn to get off with such a light punishment, but he also didn’t want Evelyn behind bars in the first place, it was complicated and he didn’t speak up even though he knew it was wrong.

Winston leaned down close to the gravel and flicked one of the pebbles it shot across the ground skipping to a stop in the shadows, from the sound of it the pebble hit a bush. The supers hadn’t said anything to him about the verdict, not directly, the younger ones felt beholden to him something that made Winston uncomfortable and those that were left from the golden days obviously hated the idea but kept silent instead opting to watch things play out. Most of them were convinced Evelyn would land herself back in prison sooner or later “It’s a super-villain thing,” was the excuse Winston heard some of them give, on television, he cringed at the thought of his sister being labeled as a super-villain of all things but if the shoe fit…

Winston sighed and shook his head, in the car behind him their chauffeur sat behind the wheel patiently staring ahead, he probably wasn’t happy about sitting in a car for five hours for someone he may have held negative opinions towards but he was too loyal to complain.  
Finally, an armored van pulled into the lot and Winston stood up, he bit his tongue and pushed back any negative emotions, even the positive ones he suppressed, years of working in business had taught him that it was better to appear neutral about somethings, Evelyn’s release was one of them.

Three men climbed from the van, Winston thought it was a bit excessive for one woman who would be in restraints but he said nothing, instead he watched as they pulled Evelyn from the van and lowered her to the gravel, a knot formed in his stomach one he couldn’t force to smooth out, so he ignored it and stretched out the wrinkles in his sweater instead.

She looked normal again, a few pounds smaller, but her hair was still short and in need of a comb, she was wearing one of the outfits he had sent over the previous night, she looked nothing like the frazzled version of his sister he’d seen in the prison’s visiting room and for a moment Winston could forget this was the Evelyn who tried commit mass murder for a petty cause, who stabbed him in the back and who willing to choose death over being saved by a super and over him as a result, that last one stung the most.

No matter how many sleepless nights he spent, Winston couldn’t fathom what made keeping supers outlawed more important than living or what point was so important that she was willing to leave him behind.

But in that fleeting second Evelyn was Evelyn again, the one who supported him, who was too laid back to fuss over much of anything, for a moment she was normal again and they had no problems. The clanking the guards made as they marched towards him destroyed that picturesque scene, he stepped forward kneading his fingers together, he felt strangely guilty like he’d done something wrong. Winston quickly reminded himself he hadn’t, no money was exchanged, the trial happened according to the law, yes it was unfair, but it was fully legal.

“Mr. Deavor?” One of the guards said.

Winston nodded, he was about to hand them his ID but the man waved him off, they knew who he was, it was kind of hard not to those days. One of the guards pushed Evelyn forward harder than Winston appreciated, he frowned at the man and grabbed Evelyn’s wrist out of reflex. She didn’t wrench away from him like Winston expected, but she glared at him through half-lidded eyes.  
Somehow their chauffeur managed to get behind them both and open the passenger door without even bumping them.

“Ms. Deavor,” He said with a practiced air of calmness. “Would you like to get out of the elements?”

Winston looked up and saw what those elements were, four news helicopters hovering just out of earshot, somehow he managed to keep a straight face the drop off was supposed to be private, to avoid Evelyn’s face being splashed across the morning's newspaper. Evelyn twisted her wrist out of his hand and stumbled almost drunkenly into the car, tripping over the siding and sprawling on the seat. Their chauffeur didn’t even seem fazed carefully he helped Evelyn off the seat and eased her into the car. Winston looked at the guards, the display had thrown him for a loop.

“Is she drugged?”

“No sir,” The taller guard said, obviously alarmed. “We haven’t given her anything.”

The open-ended statement was enough to arouse suspicion, perhaps they didn’t, but that didn’t mean someone else hadn’t.

“Sir,” Their chauffeur said meaningfully.

Winston glanced up at the helicopters, they were dipping closer he hoped that was a good sign, that it meant their lenses weren’t strong enough to get a good picture. He would have to look into the matter another time probably with the prison’s doctor. Winston slid into the seat next to Evelyn who was leaning against the window staring into the darkness. One of the guards caught the door before he could shut it.

“Do you need an escort?”

Unless there was a swarm of news vans waiting for them Winston didn’t think it was necessary, he wanted to get away from any remnants of the prison as quickly as possible, he could practically smell the place- Oh, that was Evelyn. She was going to have to scrub herself down before going to bed, he made a mental note to tell the maids to relay that information. It seemed like the list of things to do was never ending and Winston desperately wanted it to end so he could finally go to sleep. 

“No. But thanks for the offer,” 

There were no papers to sign, no instructions, all of that had been officiated four days ago and Winston was thankful for that. For the next five years, Evelyn would be stuck with him and whatever estate he bounced around to, it was a good deal on the surface but it was an uncomfortable one for them both, to say the least Winston was still sore over her actions and Evelyn couldn’t stand to be in the same house with him for longer than two months in a row before she had to “take a mental sabbatical” which usually only lasted a week or two but that was under normal circumstances, they were standing on hot coals already and Winston wasn’t looking forward to the fall out that was bound to happen because of it.

Their chauffeur shut the door and climbed into the drivers seat, Winston closed his eyes as they pulled out of the station and into the darkened streets he didn’t want to see if there were any news vans or if Evelyn was looking guilty or trying to bore holes in his head with eyes neither would make Winston feel very good about himself at the moment. So he kept his eyes closed until he started seeing a spotted pink elephant floating in the middle of the ocean on the tip of an iceberg, when they crunched into the driveway Winston fought to stay in that quasi-dreamland as long as possible but in the end he lost and his problems set in front of him still unsolved.

But there was one he could cross of his list right now.

“Your room’s made up,” Winston said not quite looking at Evelyn. “I’ll tell Jane to run you a bath.”

Before Evelyn could say anything Winston left the car and headed for the front door, his eyes felt heavy and he wanted nothing more than to go back to the pink elephant, but there was more work to be done, he caught sight of his reflection in one of the foyer’s mirrors and sighed, in the last thirty days he had grown another patch of white, right in the center of his head no doubt he’d have more before the next month was out, Winston doubted he’d get any sleep then either.

Since when did following your heart become so hard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Believe it or not, this was the second chapter I wrote somehow it ended up being the fifth posted though... The story started growing so fast.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to post this chapter at first, I was gonna skip it, but I figured it was important (and I like it).

The ducks weren’t hungry that day, the funny thing was, neither was Winston, he tossed the bread chunks into the water with purpose, feeling like he was in a never-ending battle of who would end up eating those pieces of bread. Winston knew one thing, he wasn’t eating them.

“They still clean out the pond around here?” Dicker asked him leaning back against the bench they were sitting in.

“I’m sure they do,” Winston said, in truth, he didn’t care, the ducks started it.

Dicker sighed and Winston wondered if he was going to do that the entire time, he hadn’t invited Dicker to the park just for him to sit around and silently judge his duck feeding methods. Winston brought him there to- Well, Winston wasn’t actually sure why he invited Dicker to the park, a restaurant would have bee more logical.

After a few more minutes Winston ran out of bread to throw and felt victorious for a minute, then he realized the ducks weren’t eating the chunks and sighed, even the ducks wouldn’t go along with his plans. He leaned against the bench and reminded himself that roses didn’t bloom often so he shouldn't be upset, that saying usually brightened up the darkest of days but today it wasn’t doing much. Evelyn was back at the estate wearing that silly tracking bracelet she hated, the government thought it was an excellent idea, Winston went with it he wasn’t a fan of the government getting too involved in much of anything but Evelyn’s monitoring was understandable. 

Winston looked out at the pond trying to keep his thoughts off his sister, their current situation was a nightmare and Winston had allowed himself two hours to get away from it, he planned on taking advantage of every second of it.

“How’s life treating you, Winston?” But it seemed Dicker didn’t want to let him.

“Fine,” Winston said. 

“Things are never just “fine” with you,” Dicker said dryly.

“Perfectly fine then,” Winston hummed. “It’s a lovely day, the sky is blue, the air is warm and there are plenty of ducks in the pond to feed.”

“You’ve had a cloud over your head since you got here,” Dicker continued as if Winston hadn’t spoken. “From what I can tell things haven’t started going sour yet, calm before the storm? probably, but it hasn’t gone downhill yet Winston, enjoy this.”

Dicker wasn’t helping and he didn’t understand either but he was baiting him. Winston looked at him with sad eyes and took the bait, he wasn’t cagey, Evelyn owned that title.

“Our parents would be ashamed of us. Especially me, I think,”

Dicker shook his head. “No, they wouldn’t be, look at what you’ve accomplished Winston,”

“And look at what I’ve lost,” Winston said pointedly. Dicker had known his parents, mostly second hand but he knew they were super fanatics. “They valued family above all else, including supers, that should say something right there, and I lost it.”

Dicker just glanced at him, they both knew he was going to keep talking whether Dicker said anything else or not.

“I should have seen it,”

“And if you had?”

“I could have stopped it, Winston said lowering his eyes. “If we’d talked about it things would have gone differently, she would have listened to me.”

She never really listened to him though, maybe for a little while but Evelyn was independent if she really wanted something, she’d find a way to get it. Even if she had to wait years to get it. But maybe if they’d talked enough she’d see reason or at the very least Winston would know what he was getting into.

If only.

Winston suddenly wished he had more bread.

“I messed up,” Winston said as if he was stating an obvious fact.

“Maybe, but probably not,” Dicker said indifferently. “Either way you can’t unring a bell only make sure it doesn’t ring again.”

“But how do you uncrack an egg?” Winston sighed.

Dicker looked at him with a confused frown and Winston sighed, he wasn’t even talking right anymore.

“I- Evelyn isn’t acting the same, she’s different,”

“Didn’t you expect that?” Dicker asked.

“I’m not getting anywhere with her,” Winston said tightening his grip on his pants’ legs until they wrinkled. “She was more talkative in prison, she just sleeps all day.”

“It’s going to be an adjustment,” Dicker said.

Winston didn’t think his sister would ever be remotely the same and that terrified him. Winston locked his fingers together and chewed his lip. Why did these things have to happen to him, hadn’t he suffered enough?

“I need her to be the same. I can’t-” Winston trailed off and shook his head.

“Can’t what?” Dicker asked.

“I don’t know anymore,” Winston said shaking his head again, his thoughts were turning to mush.

“Winston..”

Winston looked away from Dicker, biting his lip until he tasted blood, he let go of pants’ leg and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Father used to say that there’s a maximum capacity for problems in life, I never understood what he meant by that, but I think I’m about to reach mine,”

Dicker looked at him sadly, Winston turned back to the pond and watched the ducks swim agilely around the bread chunks. Now he knew why he’d asked Dicker to the park, he wanted to vent and needed advice, he’d managed a bit of both but his problems seemed even more hopeless than they did before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ended on a downer note, but things will get better, I'm having fun writing and playing around with styles.


	7. Chapter 7

“Should we do purple or black?” Tony asked her holding up two cardboard signs.

"Should we get the white or black posters?" Tony asked.

Violet chewed her lip, not out of indecision but horror bubbling in her stomach, Tony had dragged her shopping for protest signs, Susie had told them to do it and Tony had been all too happy to pour his allowance into the trip, Violet was starting to worry about his… Zeal about the prospect of protesting on school grounds.

“Violet?”

“Uh black,” 

“Good call,” Tony said with a nod. “Susie wanted us to grab some glitter too.”

“Glitter?” Violet asked.

“Yeah for a banner,” Tony said, leading them to another aisle in the store they found the glitter in the kiddie art section, this time Tony picked the purple glitter flakes and tossed them in the basket.

“This is a lot isn’t it?” Violet asked stressing her words and hoping Tony would get the hint.

“I know it’s great!” Tony said excitedly. “I mean we’re on our way to being a real… You know what.”

At least Tony had enough sense not to mention the protest in public, Violet wished he had enough sense to tell that she didn’t want to be a part of it anymore, she didn’t even want it to happen.

“Yeah I mean it’s really cool and all but, do we have to like clear this?” Violet asked nervously rubbing her neck.

“Nah,” Tony said. “It’s within our rights. Freedom of speech and stuff.”

“I guess so,” Violet said.

“Are you nervous?” Tony asked.

This was her chance.

“A little,” 

“I was too, but then I realized how important this is, it’s going to be fine Violet,” Tony assured her wrapping an arm around her narrow shoulders.

“If you say so,”

And she blew it.

They took their items to the checkout and Tony shelled out his allowance like he was giving candy to poor children and they ran back to his mom’s car, well Tony did, Violet trailed behind feeling sick to her stomach, things never seemed to work out the way she wanted them to, but he held her hand when they got in the car so that was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short chapter here, there’s a reason for that and don’t worry you’ll get a double post today. I’m tapering down Violet’s POV because I don’t want to detract from who the story is actually about, the Deavors but I believe she helped set the tone.


	8. Chapter 8

Besides one vaguely supportive call from Elastigirl, at least Winston thought it was supportive-ish his exhaustion was making it hard for him to read people as he normally could, the world had left them to relative peace. Their lawyers assured them that peace was their doing and it would crack at any time, there was only so much a swarm of lawyers could do to placate the media. Winston appreciated the warning and he soaked up every moment of the reprieve, he managed to get five full nights of sleep which was a record those days.

Evelyn kept to herself, moping around her lab that had been ridden of any tech deemed dangerous by the government, which was almost half of her entire labs, both the ones at their estate and DevTech. She was mad about that, mostly at Winston for letting them take her stuff but it had to be done and while he would never tell her, some of her inventions were safely tucked away around the house, out of sight out of mind, the government was a powerful but corrupt force and Evelyn was brilliant, those two things just didn’t go hand in hand.

Still, she blamed him and Winston saw her even less because of it. Sometimes it was like living in an empty house, the maids and butler moved like clockwork he was so used to their behavior that it was almost artificial and was hard to count as company. Breakfast was served at six am on the dot, Evelyn was either moping at the end of the table or not there at all. She was still progressively getting smaller, Winston was going to have to figure out a way to make sure she was eating, another item on the to-do list.

That morning she was there, sitting at the middle of the table scowling at her pancakes when she spotted him she pulled the plate closer defensively and looked at the wall. He remembered when they were younger they used to pray over their food together and eagerly wait for the next meal to plop itself in front of them like they were starving, how the times had changed.

“Good morning,” Winston said pulling up a chair across from her. After his trip with Dicker, Winston felt a renewed commitment to get his sister back to her old self, that was the biggest personal problem on his plate if he could get that under control he would feel a lot better.

Evelyn nodded in his direction, that was the closest thing to acknowledgment he’d gotten since she found out about the lab, that was a good sign.

“I think we should go to the pool today,” Winston said, Evelyn looked at him like he suggested they pour acid on themselves, Winston smiled a little and added. “Our pool.”

“Why?” Evelyn asked drawing out the question and narrowing her eyes to slits.

Winston was taken aback by that response he’d expected a snort, maybe an eye roll or worse for her to get up and leave but not to be met with an accusation he couldn’t make sense of.

“Because you haven’t been outside for eons,” Winston said. “That’s not healthy.”

“I hate pools,” Evelyn said.

Winston stared at her in shock. “Since when?” 

Evelyn didn’t respond but stabbed a hole in one of her pancakes with her spoon.

Winston shook his head, he was patient, very, very patient but Evelyn was grating on one of his last nerves. Winston forced himself to take a deep breath and try again. 

“That settles it then,” Winston said with false cheer. “We’re going to the garden after breakfast.”

Evelyn just looked at him and said nothing.

That was better than a complaint and Winston took what he could get. “This will be lovely,” 

Garden was an understatement about what was in their family manor’s backyard, “jungle” was a more accurate term. Enclosed in a several thousand acre wide greenhouse was an assortment of plants, flowers and trees their parents had collected from all over the world, after they had died Winston and his sister had decided to add the birds, they had thrived in the artificial jungle and now birds let out long warbles and sharp chirps as they made their way to the center of the greenhouse where a massive pond was fixed in the floor. Large lily pads drifted along the surface a thick cloud emitted from its surface and added to the garden’s humidity. There was a boardwalk that encircled the pond and Winston quickly skipped up it, Evelyn followed slowly, coming to a stop midway and bracing herself against the railing she stared into the murky pond.

“Did you see the new fish?” Winston asked curiously, they were truly nothing to look at but he didn’t want her moping around when they were supposed to be enjoying their last few days of freedom.

“No,” Evelyn sighed.

“Well come here,” Winston said, he was surprised at how easy it was for him to act like everything was fine.

Evelyn sighed again and trudged over to the end of the boardwalk where Winston was standing, quickly he pointed to the school of large fish swimming in a broad circle. Evelyn didn’t seem impressed in the slightest, she propped her head up with her hand and looked at him tiredly.

“Those are koi you know,” she said.

Winston giggled nervously, they already had plenty of Koi they were nothing special, not really.

“Yes, but they’re different from the rest,” Winston said.

“Uh huh,” Evelyn snorted. “How?”

“These are all orange, the others are orange and white,”

“Pretty small difference there,”

“They also have mustaches,”

Evelyn let out a laugh that was quickly strangled by a snort.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll give you that.”

Winston felt proud of himself and some of the tension he’d been carrying eased.

They stayed with the koi for an hour watching them swim in zigzagged circles, when rain began to slam against the panes Evelyn jumped and rose to her feet, she was about to leave him but somehow Winston convinced her to look at another part of the garden, the large flytrap he’d gotten flown over from South America, the plant was impressive, smelly and kept Evelyn interested long enough for Winston to think up another safe conversational piece.

“When did you get this thing?” Evelyn asked prodding at the plant’s pitchered upper portion.

“A few weeks ago,” Winston said monitoring his tone carefully he didn’t want Evelyn thinking he’d been out shopping while she was in prison or at least not out joy shopping. “It’s yours.”

Evelyn stroked the plant’s pitcher and glanced at him, for the first time since she arrived she gave him a small smile. “Thanks,”

“Not a problem,” Winston said. “So Eve, I was thinking…”

“Yes?” Evelyn asked her tone held a warning and Winston latched onto it quickly, he was never going to ignore the signs his sister gave him again.

“What do you want for dinner? I was thinking we could order pizza,” Winston said clasping his hands at his waist.

Evelyn paled and she took a step back from him.

“I’m not hungry,” she said.

Winston’s face dropped. Evelyn looked at her shoes and was quiet for a moment.

“But maybe that’ll change. We could make them later on tonight,” Evelyn said hesitantly. “Maybe.”

“Yes!” Winston said excitedly. “That’s a good idea, better than ordering out!”

Evelyn put her hands up defensively like she was afraid he would run at her, but Winston knew better than to try and hug her the last time he’d tried that she’d given him a shove for his trouble, instead he clapped his hands together and started running for the doors.

“Where are you going, Winston?” Evelyn asked sounding exasperated.

“I have to pick something up!” Winston called over his shoulder. “I’ll be right back!” 

Winston heard Evelyn grumble something but it barely registered with him, this was the most they’d talked in weeks. A meal was a perfect bonding experience and the idea of making it together sounded like a fantasy, his joy at the prospect made him feel like he was walking on clouds. Or maybe that was the lack of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to update this story for a while, time flies I don't know where it went. Anyway we've got a little bit to catch up to(and a bunch of finished chapters to post) I vaguely recall loving this chapter when I was writing it, hope you do to.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a bit of a snapshoty chapter as well, but I enjoyed writing it, this isn't as happy as Detours and doesn't take place concurrently with it, I guess you can say it's an AU and it's a bit darker.


End file.
